A
amazingcleansc
Guest
Is it just a myth? What makes a carpet cleaning company green? Do any of you offer exclusively "green" cleaning? Can a carpet cleaning company be truly "green" but offer fabric protectors?
renegade_cowboy
Member
amazingcleansc said:
What is green to you?
True green can never be achived in this industry, its the steps you take to try and be smarter about what you do. I use safe cleaning products so I dont have to breathe that stuff in, along with my customers and their pets. I DO NOT have a TM made out of wood or a wand made out of bamboo, so you can only be so green, safe, whatever you want to call it. People use me because I use safe cleaning products, no one has asked me about my carbon footprint. If they did all I can do is be honest and tell them we do the best we can at what we do. Im not getting into that whole global warming BS, but that being said, my shirts are made out of bamboo, majority of the handouts I give the customer is printed on seeded paper.
You are a business owner and green cleaning is the "in" thing, so its something that you should be offering. Just dont be like some of my BS competitors that lie to people about using green cleaning products when their not. The hype behind "green" cleaning will die down but the strive to do things better and safer will always be there. As far as green TM this guy has it going on, ive been thinking alot about it and I think I am going to try and get one of Odins machines instead of making my own. http://www.nordic1.com/
The Great Oz
Member
That's the trouble David, there's no definition, so everyone can make a green claim. Unless you do your research you can be easily duped by someone selling you green. Also, the "green" certifiers will use whatever is important to them to give their approval, and if you aren't pouring your waste into the river those criteria don't matter.
Since Brent mentioned bamboo shirts, I'll use bamboo fabric as an example of how we can be fooled. The following is copied from a bamboo fabric website. You'll find similar creative text on many green sites.
We sell fabric that's spun and knit from long, strong, soft fibers derived from the pulp bamboo plants. Read on about this fabric's environmental and health benefits, practicality and comfort.
On Bamboo Fabric and the Environment
Many of our customers order our fabrics for applications in place of cotton because of its absorbency and comfort against the skin. (OK)
Cotton is one of the most intensely sprayed crops in the world, and cotton pesticides are the greatest crop contributor to volatile organic compounds in the environment. Cotton requires wide spacing to grow, allowing bare soil to oxidize in the sun, releasing carbon into the atmosphere, allowing rain to wash soil and chemicals into stream, and decreasing soil fertility. Cotton fabrics, including those made from organic cotton raw material and labeled "organic," commonly go through a series of finishing processes involving synthetic resins, amylase enzyme, Kier boiling, detergents and alkaline solutions, and that's not including bleaches and brighteners used to alter color and caustic soda used in mercerization. (OK, lots of BS here about that other natural fabric; cotton. Some of this is true, in some countries, for some processes, sometimes, but it doesn't apply to all cotton production everywhere.)
Bamboo, on the other hand, takes in five times the volume of greenhouse gasses as an equivalent stand of timber trees and releases 35% more oxygen. It needs no replanting, pesticides or fertilizers, and its roots retain water in the watershed, sustaining riverbanks and reducing water pollution. The bamboo used to make most of the fabrics we currently stock is certified organically grown by OCIA. (Fine so far)
It is processed via a type of viscose process involving caustic soda, and then washed with water. (This is the sentence that unravels the hooey. Viscose is process used to make rayon, and is commonly used as a weasel word to avoid saying RAYON. The fabric isn't bamboo, it's rayon derived from bamboo. They also mention caustic soda, as if this is something you bathe your baby in, and don't mention where all the caustic soda and rinse water go. In Asian countries where bamboo is grown, it goes right into the sea. Not so green anymore, eh? Don't mention it, because after all they're just selling green, not being green.)
Since Brent mentioned bamboo shirts, I'll use bamboo fabric as an example of how we can be fooled. The following is copied from a bamboo fabric website. You'll find similar creative text on many green sites.
We sell fabric that's spun and knit from long, strong, soft fibers derived from the pulp bamboo plants. Read on about this fabric's environmental and health benefits, practicality and comfort.
On Bamboo Fabric and the Environment
Many of our customers order our fabrics for applications in place of cotton because of its absorbency and comfort against the skin. (OK)
Cotton is one of the most intensely sprayed crops in the world, and cotton pesticides are the greatest crop contributor to volatile organic compounds in the environment. Cotton requires wide spacing to grow, allowing bare soil to oxidize in the sun, releasing carbon into the atmosphere, allowing rain to wash soil and chemicals into stream, and decreasing soil fertility. Cotton fabrics, including those made from organic cotton raw material and labeled "organic," commonly go through a series of finishing processes involving synthetic resins, amylase enzyme, Kier boiling, detergents and alkaline solutions, and that's not including bleaches and brighteners used to alter color and caustic soda used in mercerization. (OK, lots of BS here about that other natural fabric; cotton. Some of this is true, in some countries, for some processes, sometimes, but it doesn't apply to all cotton production everywhere.)
Bamboo, on the other hand, takes in five times the volume of greenhouse gasses as an equivalent stand of timber trees and releases 35% more oxygen. It needs no replanting, pesticides or fertilizers, and its roots retain water in the watershed, sustaining riverbanks and reducing water pollution. The bamboo used to make most of the fabrics we currently stock is certified organically grown by OCIA. (Fine so far)
It is processed via a type of viscose process involving caustic soda, and then washed with water. (This is the sentence that unravels the hooey. Viscose is process used to make rayon, and is commonly used as a weasel word to avoid saying RAYON. The fabric isn't bamboo, it's rayon derived from bamboo. They also mention caustic soda, as if this is something you bathe your baby in, and don't mention where all the caustic soda and rinse water go. In Asian countries where bamboo is grown, it goes right into the sea. Not so green anymore, eh? Don't mention it, because after all they're just selling green, not being green.)
Lee Stockwell
FOJL
I've been barbequed by the kooks for using WATER of all things....good grief! It seems we still have plenty of it still in Kentucky.
I suspect some of the loudest have quit using deodorant as part of their contribution to the environment.
I suspect some of the loudest have quit using deodorant as part of their contribution to the environment.
GeneMiller
Member
we use dfc when someone wants it. what a customer wants and believes is what is important even if it's an illusion.
gene
gene
Ryan
Member
- Joined
- Jun 29, 2009
- Messages
- 2,415
Get a chemical that says its green (jj,trashed green, spartan,) use it for your general prespay and market the green angle.
The Great Oz
Member
Just to be clear, I think it is important to reduce waste and use products and procedures that are as safe as possible for the customer and our employees.
There are just too many groups that want to push their agenda, and too many marketers that smirk behind their hands as they sell phony green products. Don't become one of them.
There are just too many groups that want to push their agenda, and too many marketers that smirk behind their hands as they sell phony green products. Don't become one of them.
daniel@procarpet
Member
- Joined
- Sep 7, 2008
- Messages
- 3,797
Does this make me a green cleaner?
I vacuum and tab all the furniture. Then I set my hoses up and most of the time I will use a pump sprayer. I only turn my machine on when I am ready to start cleaning. I am putting very few hours on my machine. Before I would let the machine run to heat up before prespraying and tab furniture as I worked. I guess I am saving 30-45 minutes in run time on each job by doing this. Oh and I use recyled invoice paper and carry one green prespray.
I vacuum and tab all the furniture. Then I set my hoses up and most of the time I will use a pump sprayer. I only turn my machine on when I am ready to start cleaning. I am putting very few hours on my machine. Before I would let the machine run to heat up before prespraying and tab furniture as I worked. I guess I am saving 30-45 minutes in run time on each job by doing this. Oh and I use recyled invoice paper and carry one green prespray.
